Head piece



March 14, 1967 J. R. TATE HEAD PIECE Filed Aug. 26, 1.965

United States Patent 9 3,308,478 HEAD PIECE James R. Tate, Chicago, Ill. (P.0. Box 62, Normal, Ala. 35762) Filed Aug. 26, 1965, Ser. No. 432,690 1 Claim. (Cl. 2-12) This invention relates to a head piece and more particularly to a device to be worn on the head of a person to aid the person to concentrate by limiting his side peripheral vision.

In certain activities, it is important that a person give his full attention to a particular article or articles which are directly before him. Many distractions may occur in a persons side peripheral vision which detract his attention from that which is before him to impair his concentration. As example of such a situation, is a person, who is engaged in a sport, such as, bowling. A person engaged in bowling, whether it be ten pins, duck pins, orcandle pins, must concentrate upon the pins and the alley before him. In most commercial establishments, numerous alleys are arranged side by side, and a bowler on a given alley is often distracted by the movements of bowlers who are on adjacent alleys. Although the bowlers on adjacent alleys are not in the direct line of vision of a bowler, the activities of the bowlers on adjacent alleys are apparent only in the side peripheral vision of the bowler.

. Another example, is a golfer when he is about to strike a ball, especially when the golfer is putting on a green. Although a golfer is concentrating on stroking a ball on the green, the movements of his golfing companions on the green which are visible to him in his peripheral vision may tend to distract him.

A further exampleis a student, who is reading a book, paper or other similar matter. The student is attempting to concentrate and must direct his entire attention to the written work; however, persons moving about near him may well tend to distract his attention. The movement is also apparent only in the peripheral vision of the student. The ordinary person who may be riding a bus, street car or other public conveyance often times wishes to read carefully some material. Quite often the person is distracted by scenery or fellow passengers so that he is unable to concentrate on the material he wishes to read. It is, therefore, a principal object of the herein disclosed invention to provide a head piece to be worn by a person when engaged in an activity which requires concentration to limit the persons peripheral vision so that the person is not readily distracted and therefore may concentrate easily on that which is directly in front of him.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a head piece which includes a pivotally mounted shield which shield may be positioned in an attitude to limit side peripheral vision of a person to improve concentration or which shield may be swung into an attitude whereby the shield is out of the side peripheral vision of the person.

It is a further object of the subject invention to provide a head piece which includes a support for mounting the head piece 011 a persons head and a stop for engagement with a pivotally mounted shield. The shield may be swung relative to the support, and the shield is engageable with the stop to hold the shield in an attitude for limiting the side peripheral vision of the person wearing the head piece.

It is a still further object of the instant invention to provide an improved head piece construction which includes a support for positioning adjacent to a persons head and a pair of panels for limiting the side peripheral 3,368,478 Patented Mar. 14, 1967 vision of a person and a horizontal plate for connecting the panels and providing an eye-shade for the person wearing the head piece.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a head piece which may be simply and economically manufactured and which may be adapted for wearing by persons having heads of various sizes.

Other objects and uses of the herein disclosed invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a perusal of the following specification in light of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a head piece embodying the herein disclosed invention shown mounted on a persons head with a shield which constitutes a portion of the present invention shown in a lowered position to limit the side peripheral vision of the person;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the person and the head piece shown in FIGURE 1 showing the shield in a raised or pivoted attitude;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the head piece shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 with the shield shown in its lowermost or down position;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective exploded fragmentary view of a portion of the shield and parts of the support and shield stops which constitute a portion of a head piece shown in FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on line 55 of FIGURE 3.

Referring now to the drawing and especially to FIG- URE 3, a head piece generally indicated by numeral 10 is shown therein. The head piece 10 generally consists of a support 12, a pair of shield stops 14 and 16, and a shield 18 pivotally mounted on the support 12 and engageable with the shield stops 14 and 16 to limit the movement of the shield and to position the shield relative to the support.

The support 12 which is adapted for positioning on a persons head 20 as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, in-

cludes a head ring 22 and a crown band 24. The head ring 22 includes an anterior band 26 which in this instance is made of a flexible plastic material though any other suitable material may be used. Fixed to the anterior band 26 is a sweat band 28 which in this instance is made of an open-celled foam rubber material, though any other material which absorbs liquid may be used for the sweat band. In this instance, the sweat band 26 is adhesively secured to the anterior band.

The head ring 22 includes a posterior band 30 which is adjustable in order to accommodate heads of various sizes. The posterior bandincludes an interior posterior section 32 which has the shield stop 14 at one end and an elongated strap 34 has one end formed integral with the shield stop 14. The strap 34 has two studs 36 fixed thereon which studs extend outwardly from the band in a posterior direction. The studs are conventional in construction and have heads which are not shown herein inasmuch as the structure is well known. The posterior band includes an exterior posterior section 38 which has the shield stop 16 formed at one end. The section 38 includes an elongated strap 40 which has one end formed integral with the shield stop 14. The strap 40 has a plurality of aligned keyhole openings formed therein for receiving the studs 36 to lock the exterior and interior posterior sections to each other at selected positions.

The crown band 24 is pivotally connected to the head 1 ring 22. The crown band includes an interior strap 44 which has one end frictionally nad pivotally connected to the section 38 by a rivet 46. The strap 44 has two studs 48, which are identical to studs 36, fixed thereon. Frictionally and pivotally connected to the exterior posterior section 38 is an exterior strap 50. The strap 50 has a plurality of aligned keyhole slots 52 which are identical to the slots 42 so that the studs 48 may be received in the slots to lock the strip 44 to strap 50 at selected positions. The strap 50 is connected to section 32 by a rivet 54.

As was mentioned above, the shield 18 is pivotally connected to the head ring 22'. The shield 18 includes a lateral vertical panel 56 which is frictionally and pivot ally secured to stop 16 and the anterior band by a rivet 58. It should be noted that the panel 56 is generally rectangular in configuration with a notch 60 formed in its outer upper corner. A second lateral vertical panel 62' which is identical to panel 56 is frictionally and pivotally connected to stop 14 and the anterior band by a rivet 64. Panel 62 has notch 66 formed in its outer upper corner. A horizontal plate 68 is formed integral with the uppermost edges of panels 56 and 62. The plate 68 has an arcuate edge 70 as its interior edge and arcuate edge 72 as its exterioredge.

In order to Wear head piece 10, the subject head piece is first adjusted for engagement with a persons head by appropriately positioning the studs 36 in selected slots 42 to determine a proper size for the ring 22. The crown band 24 is also properly adjusted by positioning the studs 48 in appropriate slots 52. The support 12 is then placed on the wearers head. When the shield 18 is in a down position as shown in FIGURE 1 so that the plate 68 is in engagement with the stops 14 and 16, the panels 56 and 62 are positioned laterally of the persons eyes to limit the side peripheral vision of the person. It should be noted that with the shield 18 in a down position, the plate 68 also acts as a sun shade or sun visor. The shield may be pivoted upward relative to the wearers head and it may be appreciated that inasmuch as the edge 70 of the plate 68 is arcuate, the wearers head does not interfere with pivoting the shield.

It should be also noted that the anterior band 26 carries the sweat band 28 which is positioned on the wearers forehead when the subject head piece is worn. Thus, when the wearer is engaged in an activity which requires a certain amount of physical exertion, the sweat band collects any sweat which is formed on the forehead.

The construction of the subject device is simple and economical to make inasmuch as the shield 18 may be made of a light weight plastic material and the various elements of the support except for the rivets, studs and sweat band may be also made of a light weight plastic material. By utilization of rivets a frictional pivotal connection may be utilized which allows the device to be readily adjustable but held together firmly enough for easy handling.

Although a specific embodiment of the subject invention is disclosed herein and shown in the accompanying drawing, it should be understood that those .skilled in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the spirit and scope of the instant invention; It is to be expressly understood that the present invention is limited only by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A head piece comprising, in combination, an elongated anterior band, an interior posterior section connected to one end of the anterior band, said interior posterior section including a first shield stop adjacent to the anterior band and an elongated strip formed integral with the shield stop, a plurality of studs fixed to the elongated strip, an exterior posterior section connected to the other end of the anterior band, said exterior posterior section including a second shield stop adjacent to the anterior band and a second elongated strip formed integralwith the second shield stop and partially overlapping the first mentioned elongated strip, said second elongated strip having a plurality of keyhole shaped slots for receiving the studs to lock the elongated strips together, a sweat band fixed to the interior surface of the anterior band, an interior elongated crown strip having one end frictionally pivotally connected to one of said sections, a plurality of second studs mounted on said crown strip, an exterior elongated crown strip frictionally pivotally mounted on the other of said sections and partially overlapping the interior elongated crown strip, said exterior elongated crown strip having a plurality of keyhole shaped slots receiving the studs on the interior elongated crown strip to lock the exterior elongated crown strip to the interior elongated crown strip, a first lateral vertical panel frictionally pivotally connected to the first shield stop and to the anterior band, a second lateral vertical panel substantially parallel to the first mentioned panel frictionally pivotally connected to the second shield stop and the anterior band, and a horizontal plate formed integral with the lateral vertical panels and engageable with the shield stops to limit the movement of the lateral vertical panels in one direction, whereby positioning of the horizontal band in engagement with the shield stops positions the lateral vertical panels laterally of a persons eyes when the device is mounted on the persons head to limit the side peripheral vision of the person.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 865,484 9/1907 Ellis 2l2 2,330,442 9/1943 Nero 2l2 2,461,604 2/1949 Huntsman 2--8 2,526,582 10/1950 Rowan 214.21 X 2,736,027 2/1956 Parmelee 28 3,225,459 12/1965 Wilstein 2l2 X PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, A. R. GUEST,

Assistant Examiners. 

